In 2017 the RiseB thesis prize was awarded for the fourth time. In total six theses written in 2016 were nominated for the prize. Umeå Energi sponsors the prize money of SEK 25 000.
Prize winners 2017
The RiseB thesis prize in 2016 was awarded to Alexander Adolfsson Grimsen and Marie Åström for the degree project "Development Finance Institutions' Effect on The Fund Manager's Investment Decisions".
Prize motivation
In the winning thesis Adolfsson Grimsen and Åström study how investors and investors' decisions are affected by Development Finance Institutions. These are funds with the purpose of supporting businesses in developing countries with investment capital. Since there is a lack of studies of the role of these funds, and how they affect the sustainability of the financial system, the study makes important contributions to research regarding sustainable investments. The degree project is a well-written and thorough piece of work that helps us understand interactions and actors' different roles within the financial domain, a domain very important when it comes to sustainability. The study also exemplifies a novel approach when it comes to finance research as it relies upon interviews and qualitative analysis, but the jury also stressed that it performed well in relation to all the assessment criteria.
The thesis was written at the Umea School of Business and Economics. It was supervised by Rickard Olsson. The thesis can be found here.
Two theses received an honorable mention: Vira Sadovskas "Corporate sustainability standards. A comparison of two sustainability indices" and Johan Andersson/Robin Weiderståls (in Swedish) "Varumärkesstärkande samhällsansvar: En studie om hur CSR påverkar konsumenters attityder".
The following people took part in the jury for the 2017 thesis price: Assistant professor Herman Stål, Umea School of Business and Economics, Mari-Louise Johansson Head of HR at Umea Energi and Professor Lars Hassel, Umea School of Business and Economics.
The thesis prize is handed out at Umeå School of Business and Economics' graduation ceremony 2th of June.
